NFT Creator – Cointelegraph Magazine

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With a total artwork value of $24 million Trevor Jones is one of the Top 10 most successful crypto artists worldwide.

Trevor Jones’ journey to crypto art stardom started the same way as many crypto noobs: His portfolio went way up, he failed to take profits, and the price came crashing down wiping out the paper gains.

A traditional painter, Jones always wanted to explore the intersection of art and technology, and he experimented with QR code oil paintings in 2012 and dived into AR art in 2013.

But it was his 2017 investment in Bitcoin that sparked deep curiosity in what this new world of crypto and blockchain was about. After getting rekt in 2018’s crypto winter, Jones turned his attention from crypto trader to crypto painter. He says:

“I caught that bull run and made a lot of money and then lost a lot of money in 2018. It all went up and all came crashing down.

“I really fell down the rabbit hole and got completely excited about the space and the people. I was following whoever I could on Twitter, the likes of Vitalik Buterin and John McAfee and characters like that. Very quickly, I started having thoughts that this is something I would like to explore with my art.”

The Eccentric - John McAfee by Trevor Jones — “The Eccentric – John McAfee” by Trevor Jones at Crypto Disruption Exhibition. (trevorjonesart.com)

Crypto art was almost non-existent as a genre in 2018 within traditional art circles, so Jones took it upon himself to hire a commercial gallery to stage a crypto-themed exhibition where he showcased some of his first original crypto art at the Crypto Disruption Exhibition.

“The 12 paintings I did were all inspired by the crypto space, and from the new perspective I was coming in from, I didn’t know a lot about it at the time. I focused on some of the characters, such as Satoshi Nakamoto, ideas and themes like the bull and the bear, hodling and riding the wave. It was kind of me figuring out how to visualize this space through these paintings,” he said.

“I sold almost everything from the exhibition to anonymous collectors around the world where they paid me in Bitcoin and Ethereum. It really blew my mind because normally when you go through an art gallery to sell work, you don’t get to meet the collectors for the most part, it’s all done behind closed doors. You’d hopefully receive money two to three months down the line when the gallery pays you out.”

“To get paid immediately was just so eye-opening. A few of the paintings were actually sold before the exhibition even opened. I was just posting some images on Twitter and somebody would reply saying they liked it and how much is it? I’d tell them a number, and they’d just send me some Bitcoin, and the sale was done. It was just the most surreal thing.”

Oil paintings to NFTs

With a path similar to Josie Bellini’s, from crypto artist first to NFT artist second, Jones recalls Coin Fest in April 2019 in Manchester being a pivotal moment. David Moore from Known Origin tried to explain to him why he should be interested in NFTs.

“Coming from the perspective of a traditional artist who had a very successful exhibition of paintings that were selling between $5,000 and $12,000, I was grappling with the fact that NFTs at this time were only selling for about $20 or being gifted,” Jones says.

“It didn’t make sense in my head that I should sell a digital representation of a painting for $30 when the physicals were being sold for five figures.”

But Jones continued to investigate the world of NFTs, tapping into newfound relationships with the likes of Alotta Money, Pascal Boyart and Coldie. He paid particular attention to Matt Kane and Coldie in the back half of 2019 who were starting to make sales in the hundreds or thousands of dollars and “started to think maybe there’s a way that it makes sense to bring my work together with a digital counterpart.”

He says he was initially hesitant out of concern for collectors of his physical art who had paid top dollar. “I felt that it would be disrespectful to then sell that painting for $30, but I was still learning about editions and all the nuances of the space at the time,” he says.

The Canadian artist was an instant success when he finally decided to take the NFT plunge. His very first NFT titled “EthGirl,” a collaboration with NFT art legends Alotta Money, broke the record for the highest sale on SuperRare, selling to ModeratsArt for 72.1 ETH ($10,207 at the time of sale).